Hotels were never desired as much during a holiday. That is until boutique hotels hit the scene and took the travel industry by storm. They came and made travellers want to inhabit them, make them home, and even take back some elements to their own homes. Boutique hotels are now the ultimate in lifestyle living.

Image source: TripSavvy

This boom has also seen supply catching up to demand across major destinations around the world. So, how can hotel marketers continue to grow revenue as more and more players join the fray? Driving more direct bookings are obviously the one major solution, but for that to succeed, your content marketing strategy needs to be on point.

Here’s our list of strategies that we think will help your hotel deliver on the promise of providing the best experience in 2018:

1. Video will take centre-stage
Internet users love their videos. Studies show that 61 percent of all marketers expect video to dominate their strategies. This makes it absolutely crucial that you make video marketing a central part of your 2018 marketing budget. To generate direct bookings, video marketing needs to begin at your website. Your hotel website should act as the central hub of visual content. Moreover, any video content on your social media platforms should also be available on the website. The type of video content will depend on your property’s unique selling proposition.

2. Virtual Reality will gain more ground
Luxury travel and hospitality brands are increasingly teaming up with virtual reality production agencies to help bring the luxury to life through immersive experiences.
For instance, Four Seasons is already looking at a marketing virtual reality application. Your boutique hotel will need to create unique, immersive experiences that attract customers.

Image source: AppATrip.com

Virtual reality experiences can bring your brand to life from anywhere in the world. They help transport potential guests to experience the hotel before booking it and allows them to navigate their own experiential experience. Additionally, it offers a personalized viewing experience, unique to each brand to extend their reach and boost visibility.

3. Mobile will remain top priority
According to a report by Deloitte, mobile is poised to overtake desktop as the savvy traveller’s go-to tool for research and booking. About 27 percent (and counting) of online bookings are completed via smartphone. This trend goes past the booking stage. When guests arrive at their destination, they’re turning to their mobile devices to find activities to do around town. In fact, a majority decide on activities only after they’ve arrived at their destination. By sending guests updates about what is happening around town during their stay, your hotel can provide them with an empowering experience.

4. Experiential marketing will rule the roost
As a boutique hotel, it is more important to sell an experience, rather than a product.

With the increase in the number of millennial travellers, experience is steadily taking centre-stage as travellers look for unique experiences over preplanned, packaged itineraries. That is what your hotel will need to create for your customers.Whether it is a person travelling for business, or a young couple looking for a perfect weekend getaway, the goal is to create memorable experiences. Read more about how APAC millennials are transforming global trends here.

5. Automation is going to be the next big thing
For efficient marketing, automation is the key. It is going to be vital for boutique properties to make sure their CRM is set to respond to different actions the customer may take on the website. Make the check-in and check-out process easier by building apps or sending an email that lets them do it from their phones. Another area where your property can stay ahead of the curve is by automating the internal sales process. When someone submits a contact form for enquiry, make sure it triggers an email to one of the salesperson who can deliver more context and personalization to the booking process as the guests finalize their choice of stay.

Any other trends you have in mind? Let us know.

The post Top 5 content marketing strategies your boutique hotel needs for 2018 appeared first on TravHQ.

After Google has made lot of news with the Cardboard and related projects, Yahoo has made a move in this space and introduced a Flickr VR app for the Samsung Gear VR headset. With the kind of projects Google has been introducing for the Cardboard, Gear VR appeared to be more like a novelty. Marriott International introduced VR Postcards for its guests at some of its properties using Gear VR and there have been similar applications of the headset by travel brands but it couldn’t find much use beyond that.

Virtual reality is an amazing medium to share travel experiences and drive inspiration. With the introduction of Flickr VR app, Gear VR owners will be able to access a large number of 360 degree photos on Flickr. The image sharing platform has already got a large number of beautiful 360 degree images that can be viewed on desktop as well but the experience hardly matches that of viewing them in the headset.

Announcing this development, the blog post by Yahoo says, “Over the years, Flickr users have uploaded tens of thousands of 360° photos and today we’re offering a new way to explore and view these images. Flickr is the best platform for 360° photos because we respect the image quality of uploaded photos, and we want to be one of the best ways to access engaging virtual reality experiences.”

Earlier Google introduced support for the Google Cardboard viewer for YouTube and then also introduced Cardboard Camera so that more people create content for the VR viewer. Travel marketers can of course find lot of applications of VR technologies, especially in travel inspiration and this new additions will help with the adoption.

You can check out the Horseshoe Bend or Revontulikaari ja Linnunrata Käärmelahdesta to see what 360 photos on Flickr look like.

The post Yahoo brings more VR for travellers with Flickr VR app appeared first on TravHQ.

A few days back, Google rolled out the update to its YouTube app and added more features for the Google Cardboard users. While YouTube featured 360 degree videos since March, it announced VR videos only recently with this new update. The difference is that while the 360 degree videos were flat, the videos being termed as VR are stereoscopic with an illusion of depth in them. With this addition, they have also added a new playlist of VR videos.

Until now, the uses of Google Cardboard have been limited by the number of apps and VR videos but with YouTube giving it a push, we might see more people adopting Google Cardboard. They have introduced the option of watching conventional YouTube videos in Cardboard to give a feel of virtual movie theatre. It will offer an experience similar to Oculus VR Cinema, only with an easier transition.

Virtual reality has got wide range of applications in travel industry. Brands offering activities can use VR to drive inspiration, hotels can offer virtual tours of their property, destinations can showcase the tourist attractions and this will be just the start. With the technology available to everyone at low cost, more brands can experiment with VR and reach more audience.

(Image: By othree (Google Cardboard) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)

With the new additions, especially the stereoscopic 360 videos. VR content creators will have a good platform to share their work. Anyone with a cardboard and an Android device can start watching the videos. Earlier Google introduced the Jump project to ease the process of developing VR content for creators. It offers stitching capabilities on cloud taking some of the pain out of processing these videos. In a recent conversation with the co-founder of Ascape, an app that offers VR travel content, we learned that stitching these videos take lot of effort and with Google easing the process, we will see the creators offering even better experiences as they will focus more on the creative aspect of the VR videos. This could be just the push VR needed to reach every traveller.

The post Will YouTube give VR the required push with Cardboard support? appeared first on TravHQ.

The debate on topic of who is winning the war of videos is lined up for another day. Right now Facebook is making news with the addition of 360 degree videos on web and Android. 360 degree videos allow the user to see other dimensions of a video at any point. It is like having a photo sphere for every frame in the video. A few days back Facebook announced that its News Feed will now have some 360 degree videos. iOS is on cards as well and the feature will be rolled out to iOS devices in a few months. Safari web browser is also left out at the moment. Right now some big names like Star Wars, GoPro, Discovery and VICE are posting 360 videos.

Only a few months back, YouTube had introduced the feature of 360 degree videos and Facebook has been quick to join the game. They have worked with Oculus to add this new content format to the already long list of formats, the social media platform supports. On desktop, users can change the view by dragging with mouse pointer while on mobile, they can either swipe or turn around with their phone to explore the different views.

How is the experience?

It is surely exciting to be able to just swipe on a video to see what is going on all around. It might not be as good as watching on VR headsets like Samsung Gear VR but is still pretty good. At this point you don’t even have the option to pop your phone into any VR headset like Google Cardboard but who knows they might consider it in future. I first came across a video by GoPro with Motocross freestyle rider Ronnie Renner jumping across sand dunes.

Like we said, the experience isn’t as great as a VR headset but this is without investing into any piece of hardware at all. This means that it already has a much wider reach already making it a stepping stone towards VR. It prepares the world for what could possibly be the next big thing in tech industry. It would also give small scale content creators a boost as they can reach more audience.

What is in it for travel?

The VR industry is still at a nascent stage but the industry experts suggest that it will grow to be a big trend going forward (Read: 5 upcoming travel trends in Asia). Marketers will use it to promote their services while a large number of content creators will come up to provide inspiration. Earlier Google launched the Jump project that came along with the idea of virtual educational tours for students. Marriott recently offered VR Postcard service at two of its prime properties. This move by Facebook will increase the audience beyond the small number of people who have VR headsets and thus offering opportunity for marketers to inspire via 360 degree videos.

Mountain Dew was quick to jump on this with a 360 degree video coming on the launch day. Travel brands can consider the option of making 360 degree video ads to drive more people to their Facebook page. Taking the early mover advantage will work wonders here. Hotels often put up photo spheres or panorama shots of their property and views around it. These videos can replace them while giving a better view to guests. At this point, content creation is a costly affair due to the high equipment costs. You need something like Bublcam, Ricoh Theta or your own custom rig loaded with multiple cameras. This would limit it to bigger brands at this moment but I am sure just the 360 degree video alone would have driven many people to the GoPro Facebook page.

Have you checked out the 360 degree videos on Facebook yet? What do you think of them?

The post Facebook has got something new for travel marketers appeared first on TravHQ.

Moving ahead of iPads and mobile requests, Marriott has introduced ‘VRoom Service’ for the guests at two of their prime properties in New York and London. They are offering room service delivery of virtual reality kit powered by Samsung Gear VR for the guests to experience ‘VR Postcards’. These VR Postcards are short 360 degree 3D tours to Andes Mountains in Chile, an ice cream shop in Rwanda, and the streets of Beijing and feature travellers sharing stories about the value of travel.

The VR kit arrives in an elegant steel case

This isn’t the first time Marriott has made a move towards virtual reality. They joined hands with Framestore last year as well to come up with virtual teleporter, booths to give 4D experience with Oculus. Marriott has always been among the first movers when it comes to new technology. They were ready with their Apple Watch app the day it was launched and also introduced mobile check in & requests to simplify user experience.

Why the move towards VR?

Marriott has always tried to position itself as a hospitality brand quick in adopting new media technologies. The VR Postcard hardly serves them a strong purpose but makes them the forerunner in the race. Earlier this year, they announced a partnership with Netflix. The ‘VRoom Service’ will position them as a preferred choice for digital travellers. The number of millennial travellers is going up fast and with these innovations, they are trying to attract them towards the brand. Their ‘Get teleported’ activity last year, which involved setting up kiosks in public places, was focussed more on marketing but the VR Postcards are about offering the guests a new experience.

“Travel expands our minds and helps push our imagination,” said Matthew Carroll, vice president, Marriott Hotels. “Our guests want to be in inventive spaces that help foster their creativity and thinking. VRoom combines storytelling with technology, two things that are important to next generation travelers.”

What does VR hold for the industry?

VR is usually related with industries like gaming and entertainment but many brands have showcased how it can find a place in travel industry. Qantas joined hands with Samsung to offer the travellers a VR tour. The idea was to inspire more people to travel to Australia. Google announced Expeditions for virtual educational tours during the announcement of Google Jump project.

While content creation is tough, the viewers have become affordable. This has led to many adventure tour operators using virtual experiences to get more people to try out adventure sports for real. Travel inspiration has moved from text to images to videos and now a new breed of content creators is coming up armed with VR content. Very soon we might see more activities like ‘VRoom Service’ from other travel brands with a wider choice of content and viewing options.

The post Marriott is offering you a tour to Chile with VR Postcards appeared first on TravHQ.